


Stick Like Glue

by Arisprite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventuring, Aliens, Conversation, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Gen, Hiking, Honestly this is ridiculous, Humor, Keith and Lance bonding, Season 3 Spoilers, friendship but could be pre-klance, most of the story doesn't need the context, so the circumstances of that timeframe are a backdrop, takes place at the end or after season 3, this is so self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 08:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11824644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisprite/pseuds/Arisprite
Summary: An uninhabited alien forest calls to Lance for exploration, and who better to ask to come along than Keith? So, maybe everyone else said no first, but Keith and Lance are actually not having too bad a time. Add in some jewels, glue, and a giant monkey, and we'll see how it goes.





	Stick Like Glue

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse for this, except that Fancypond (ozbian) asked for more Keith and Lance having mutually supportive shenanigans. This is the result. 
> 
> If you'd like to make a request, or follow me for more Voltron fic and art, including updates on the upcoming sequel to my other story [Dislocation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11248863/chapters/25143972), which will be a huge season 2 spin off involving the astral plane, and finding Shiro [you can find me here on tumblr :)](http://arisprite.tumblr.com/)

“How did we even get into this mess?” Keith groaned, from where he was pinned to the ceiling by the unpleasant sticky substance. 

Lance tried to wiggle his toes, his fingers, anything! but it was no use. 

“Sorry! I thought… but I was wrong, obviously...” 

Keith frowned, and from his vantage point, Lance could see him turn his head, and two fingers twitched. 

“You weren’t wrong… technically,” Keith said. “Being stuck to the ceiling is… a complication, I’ll admit.” 

“You got that right,” Lance snorted, but he was touched at Keith continuing to profess that he believed him. After all, he had been there right from the start. 

It all started a quintent ago, when they’d set down on an uninhabited planet for repairs from the latest clash with the galra fighters. It had just been a single battleship, and neither of them had expected each other to be there when they’d dropped out of a wormhole, but they’d still gotten a couple chunks out of their hull. Allura also wanted some more practice flying with Blue, and had agreed that some downtime for bonding as a team was a good idea. 

Keith, as the leader apparent, had agreed and they’d taken most of yesterday running drills in the lions, and practicing forming Voltron, and gaining back some of the maneuvers they’d had previous to the switch ups. All through it all, Lance had tried to connect with Red, and Keith flew Black, but Lance was sure they all were far too aware of Shiro watching with something like longing from the sidelines. Still, Allura was doing great with Blue, and the connection to the Blue Lion was faint. They’d made it work. 

Today, Lance was tired of his own negative feelings. They were still grounded, and after some thought, Lance decided what he (and surely the rest of the team) needed was a day off. The planet they were on was beautiful, with forests that reminded him of hiking in the northwest of the U.S. on family trips, where there was multiple greens overlaid, and the cloud cover kept a perfect temperature. Man, Lance had loved those days. 

In addition to the lovely forest, there had been some readings of ruins of buildings in the near distance. There was probably some really cool old stuff out there, and then beyond that, a lake. A lake _with_ non-toxic, drinkable, swimmable water. And he was dying to go. 

But, everyone had begged off. Hunk was helping Coran, Pidge had already started her project for her day off and was firmly entrenched. Shiro was still recovering, and Lance didn’t want to bother him, and Allura said she was flattered, but she had promised the mice she’d spend some time with them. It left Lance leaning on the wall next to Keith’s room, wondering why it seemed so hard to ask if Keith wanted to go exploring. It was right up his alley, what with the exploring and wilderness thing, and Lance knew Keith liked swimming too. Still, knocking and asking if Keith wanted to spend the day with him seemed oddly… embarrassing. 

The choice was taken from him when Keith’s door slid open, and the man himself appeared, stopping when he saw Lance leaning there in the hallway, glowering. Keith raised his eyebrows. 

“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded, and Lance sighed, straightening up. Guess he was asking Keith, and there was no way out of it. Keith was dressed in his normal clothes, jacket on, but it wasn’t like he wore much else, so no clues there. 

“Hey, what are you doing right now?” 

Keith’s eyebrow ticked up. “Uh, I was going to go train…?” he said this last part almost like a question. Lance heffed, throwing off his frown, and coming forward to sling an arm around Keith’s neck. The guy still looked surprised, so Lance laid it on thick. 

“What do you say to coming out to explore the woods with me? There’s probably some cool ancient ruins, some sweet trees, and scanners said there was a lake we can swim in out there too! Eh? Eh? How’s that sound?” 

Keith looked nonplussed, though he’d looked interested at the mention of ruins. “Why are you asking me?” 

After all, Lance hadn’t ever really asked him to hang out, so it wasn’t that surprising. Lance pushed away the awkwardness he felt. 

“Keith, my buddy, my pal. Why _wouldn’t_ I ask you to come? We’re friends, aren’t we?” 

Keith was side eying him pretty hard, and Lance was starting to feel a blush come up on his cheeks. 

“Everyone already said no, didn’t they?” he said, voice flat. Lance rubbed his neck. 

“Eh, well, maybe, but seriously, do you want to go? It sounds awesome out there, and no one wants to go. Pretty please!” Throwing dignity aside, Lance clasped his hands together. Keith’s face broke into a funny little smile. 

“Okay, fine. Geez, you’re ridiculous.” 

Lance let out a breath, whooping. “Alright! Grab your swimming trunks, my man! This is gonna be awesome!” 

*~*~*~*~*~*

“Okay, I gotta hand it to you. This is awesome,” Keith said. They were standing on the edge of a small ravine, looking out on a panorama of green (and purple) trees that reminded Lance of evergreen forests, all interspersed with towering spires of pale yellow and gold, jutting up from among the branches. The scanners said that there were no large life forms, but there were definitely buildings down there. And beyond, was a sparkling blue-green lake, just like Coran said there was. 

They were hiking, as the trees were too close to take the speeders, and both wore a small back pack with their swimming things, some snacks, and water. Keith was standing closer to the edge, looking out into the forest view, and from their vantage point, the wind was pushing at their hair and clothes. Lance leaned out, from a little behind him, taking in the view. 

“It really is,” Lance said, clapping a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I can’t believe the others didn’t want to come.” 

Keith smiled a little, and glanced at him. 

“First one to that spire is a rotten egg,” he teased, and Lance gaped as Keith started jogging down the slope, a little too quick for safety, in Lance’s opinion. 

“A rotten egg? What are you twelve?” Lance called, running after him. The spire Keith had mentioned was up ahead, twisting yellow through the large trees, unlike any earth architecture Lance had seen. They stumbled down the hill, and Lance concentrated on not twisting an ankle rather than winning, but they were both laughing by the time they reached the flat. He reached out and punched Keith’s shoulder, and Keith shoved back, and they dissolved into a breathless pushing match for a moment, until the building came into full view. 

“Wow,” Lance breathed, forgetting Keith for a moment. It was huge, much bigger than it had looked at a distance. That was partly because the trees were also _huge_ , so his sense of scale was off. These were like, redwood scale or bigger. The entirety of the Voltron team holding hands couldn’t have reached around that the trunks. And the building, well, it was the size of the castle, easily, and it wasn’t alone. There were more, even bigger ones in the distance. “Were the people here like giants or something?” 

Keith was staring, and shrugged. “Maybe. We haven’t seen close to the total amount of life in the universe. Maybe some were bigger.” 

Lance began to walk forward, gaping at a pine cone as big as a football. 

“You ever think it’s weird how of the life forms we’ve met, they’re generally all… people sized? Like, Allura is shorter than I am. And there’s big aliens, but not like, insanely huge. Not like whoever lived here…” 

Keith shrugged. “I bet there’s some evolutionary alien scientist who can explain why species tend to be this size, but don’t ask me to.” 

“You’re probably right. Man, my sister is a biologist on Earth, and she’d always talking about the cool stuff she sees. Imagine if she had a whole universe of life to study…” 

“Pidge’s brother… he was into that kind of stuff,” Keith said, a little awkwardly. “Xenobiology. It was part of his specialty.” Lance looked at him. 

“You knew Pidge’s brother?” he asked. Keith shrugged. 

“Well, not _knew him_ knew him. He hung around Shiro sometimes, or Shiro would talk about him. I think I only met him once or twice. He probably wouldn’t remember me, except as some kid that slunk around behind Shiro’s elbow.” 

Lance hadn’t really thought about the connections his teammates had had before, back on Earth. He’d been friends with Hunk forever, and on the flight team with Pidge (though she’d done her best not to be friends with them during that time). And he’d known that Keith and Shiro knew each other before, and Shiro had been on the Kerberos trip with Pidge’s brother and dad. 

“You’ve known Shiro a long time, huh?” 

Keith paused in his hiking, leaving his leg mid step atop a log (or a stick given the size of the tree it came from). He looked hesitant, like he wasn’t sure how much to say. 

“I met him when I was nine. He was doing volunteer work. You know how the Garrison wanted us to have community service hours? Well, he was sixteen and joined up with a Big Brother program for foster kids. He got paired up with me.” 

Lance stared at Keith, who was looking at the ground. Nine? And in foster care? He only met Shiro because of a random service hours pair up? 

“I feel like I just learned more about you in one sentence than the rest of the time I’ve known you,” Lance said, putting his hands in his pockets. Keith glanced at him. 

“Yeah, well. I don’t like to talk about my past much. There’s not much worth remembering.” 

“I’m sorry,” Lance said, and Keith breathed out, rubbing a hand over his hair. 

“He kept in contact, even after the hours were done, and helped me get through school. It was because of him that I stuck with my last family as long as I did, because if I got moved again, they said I’d be moved to a different town. Because of that, I actually got my grades up enough to apply and get into the Garrison.” 

“And here you are,” Lance said. What a crazy string of events. Lance felt bad that Keith’s background had been so hard, but Keith didn’t look too troubled. Just slightly sheepish. Keith let out a breath, and started walking again. 

“Here I am. Funny how things work out.” 

They were getting close to some huge steps towards the building, and when they reached them, Keith started climbing, having to reach out with his arms to drag himself up. When he got there, he turned, and offered Lance a hand without saying anything. Lance accepted, and working together, they made it up the waist high stairs. 

Once they reached the top, there was a long stretch of flat stone - almost like a courtyard, broken up a little by damaged rocks, and where it looked like tree roots had grown through the structure. They glanced at each other, and started walking, heading towards the end of the yard, where a building stood. 

“What about you?” Keith asked as they walked, sounding hesitant. “You said you have a sister?” 

Lance pushed down his surprise at Keith continuing the conversation about their pasts, and answered. 

“Yup. Two older sisters, and two older brothers. Most of them are married with kids too, so there’s three brother and sister in laws, and young kids always running around. I’m usually the babysitter when I’m home, which is totally cool. Love those little guys…” Keith looked at him, as Lance trailed off, so Lance forced a smile. “They’re probably getting so big by now.” 

Keith didn’t have much to say in response, and Lance was fine with letting the topic die before he got teary eyed which tended to happen when he thought too long about his family back home, and how much they must miss him, and if they think he’s dead… 

“Look,” Keith said, a little suddenly. “An animal.” 

He pointed to a corner of the building, which they were nearing, where there was a tiny, mouse-sized furry thing. Lance took a moment to wipe his eyes, and squinted. 

“That? It’s so little! Why would the animals here be so small, if the people were so huge?” 

Keith, looking relieved at the topic change, shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it was actually a fuzzy bug.” 

Lance shuddered. “Ergh, a bug the size of a mouse?” 

“We’ve seen weirder things,” Keith muttered. “And eaten them. Remember the cave bugs on the Balmera?” 

Lance laughed. “Those were… not my favorite. Hunk liked them, though.” 

“Hunk likes a lot of things,” Keith said, smiling too. Lance chuckled as they continued walking. 

“He’s super picky about junk food. You’d be surprised how many chip flavors and brands he vetoes. And don’t get him started on pizza quality, and where has the best sauce or crust.” 

“Somehow, I can see that.” 

“Me, put sauce and cheese on bread, and I’m there,” Lance felt his mouth water a bit, and remembered they had snacks in their bags - though it was more like alien trail mix with things that were crunchy and full of protein but failed to resemble anything like nuts and dried fruit, let alone the bits of chocolate that made up any self respecting trail mix. Still, he pulled it out, and offered the bag to Keith. Keith took some, and then Lance took a handful, munching it as they walked. 

“What about you? Fav food?” Lance asked. Keith hummed. 

“Hmm… Honestly, I’d kill for a burger...” Keith tossed some of the protein crumble in his mouth, looking unhappy. “Dang it, now I’m thinking about how long it’s been since we’ve had any real meat.” 

“Little carnivore, huh?” Lance grinned. “My sister was the same way.” 

Keith shrugged a little. “It was one of the things that made sense after I learned about my heritage…Galra have sharp teeth like meat eaters, and I’ve always really liked meat.” 

Lance hadn’t thought of that, and his eyebrows went up. “Huh. I guess that does make sense.” 

The conversation went on, casual and easy, while they walked along the mostly flat courtyard, until they reached the doors of what had to be some sort of temple, or palace. It was ornately decorated, with windows taller than two Lances. There were huge murals that seemed to depict a history, maybe the story of this people. It looked like some cataclysmic event went down, but then there were plants growing? So maybe peace? There were also a lot of strange symbols that looked like weapons, and people getting injured or killed… so that was unsettling a bit. Either way, it was pretty amazing looking, even though they both had to crane their heads back to see it. 

In front of them, below the mural, was the door to the inside the structure. The door was massive, but there was a crack between the slabs that they’d be able to get through. Keith started forward, but Lance put an arm out across his chest. 

“Wait a tick…” he said, and Keith looked at him questioningly. “You ever seen those old movies, Indiana Jones?” 

“No,” Keith said. “Movies are boring.” 

Completely thrown out of his train of thought, Lance whipped around and stared at Keith. “Wha-? Keith, movies are not boring?!” 

“Well, not all of them,” Keith defended. “But they’re too long! I don’t like sitting through them unless I’m doing something else.” 

“Oh my god,” Lance said, rubbing his hand down his face. “Keith, my man, you’ve missed out on so much!” 

Keith looked angry (for the first time in a while, Lance noted) and bristled. “There’s more to life than movies!” 

“Well, if it weren’t for movies, I wouldn’t know that we shouldn’t walk forward right now without being very careful,” Lance countered, and Keith threw up his hands. 

“What does that have to do with anything?” 

Lance sighed. “Okay, Indiana Jones had a couple of plots where they went into an ancient temple- “ Lance threw out a hand towards the ancient temple before them. “-and were promptly put in mortal danger because of booby traps.” 

“Okay…?” 

Lance groaned. “So, what I’m saying is that there could be traps in there, and we should be careful.” 

“Well, why didn’t you just say that?” 

“I did!” 

Keith groaned and rubbed his hand over his eyes. “Okay, okay. Any idea how we can tell if it’s safe?” 

Lance put a hand on his chin, peering at the partly open door. 

“In all honesty, we’re probably too light to set off any weight sensors. The people here were like twice as tall as we are.” Lance thought about it some more. “If there’s motion sensors, maybe… but then again, the temple doesn’t seem that tech advanced, so… I think we can go in, carefully.” 

“Or we could just go around. You wanted to swim, didn’t you?” 

Lance looked at him, pout growing. “But don’t you want to explore the ruins? I specifically said, ‘explore ruins’ and you lit up, man.” 

Keith shifted like he’d been caught. “Well, yeah, but then you said there might be traps.” 

“ _Might_ being the operative word here,” Lance said, finger raised. “In fact, I’m going to say that the traps will be for bigger people than us, and we’ll be fine. It’s like a mouse running over a bear trap, we’re just too small to set off anything, or being danger if it does.” Lance made an elaborate arm gesture. “You know, arrows shooting out of the walls at chest height, oops, that’s above our heads. That sort of thing,” Lance said, standing still again. Keith looked at him with a strange look, before laughing. 

“Okay, I believe you,” Keith said. “Let’s go.” 

“Yeah, you better believe me!” Lance said, putting his hands on his hips. “Let’s go!” 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The inside of the temple was dim, lit with some sort of glowing fungi or plant that crawled along the walls. Keith went first, with Lance close behind. They walked carefully into a large open area, with stone tiles as big as a king sized bed making up the floor. Lance kept an eye out for any different looking stones that might give way and set off the flaming arrows, or rolling stone of death, but nothing happened. 

Keith was definitely interested in the ruins, looking around with wide eyes at the carvings that continued along the walls here, and crawled up to the ceiling. Lance remembered the papers he’d had along the walls in that shack on Earth, detailed drawings of the carvings in the Blue Lion’s cavern, and all those notes and calculations. He was drawn by Blue, sure, but he had to like the stuff too, to put that much work into it. 

Lance put his hands behind his head, looking up at the weird plants, and how they made the shadows on the carvings look like they were actually moving… wait. 

Lance stopped, and stared upwards, but there wasn’t another glimmer of movement, like he’d thought. Keith glanced back at him, noticing he’d stopped. He was immediately tense. 

“What is it?” he asked, and Lance peered at the ceiling for another moment, before shaking his head. 

“Think there was an animal up there. I saw movement, just for a moment.” 

“Another fuzzy bug?” Keith asked, tone light, but Lance shook his head once, before shrugging. 

“Eh, maybe. C’mon, let’s go. Looks like there’s a smaller room up there. Maybe they’ll be some cool stuff.” 

Keith glanced up once more, before he nodded. “Yeah, maybe.” 

They kept walking, both keeping a sharper eye out. It seemed to take forever to reach the walls, or the steps further inwards. There was a doorway, leaned open, that led to a smaller room, and after examining the door frame for more traps, they passed into it. 

This room was more interesting, stuff-wise. Lance immediately zeroed in on the chest in the middle of the room, raised on a dias, and surrounded by standing candelabras, and fluttering silks. Everything was dark and moth eaten (or the alien equivalent) and the chest was cracked open. Still, Lance muffled a squeal, and whacked Keith’s arm in excitement. 

“Dude, is that what I think it is?” 

Keith whacked him back, but his eyes were lit up. They leaned in to whisper, “A treasure chest!” Lance laughed in disbelief, before he shook himself. 

“I mean, it’s probably empty, right?” he asked, even as Keith started to creep forward. “And even if it wasn’t, we’re defenders of the universe! We can’t steal treasure.” 

“Lance,” Keith’s voice said, but Lance was following slower, muttering to himself. 

“Then again, no one’s here on this planet at all. Whoever it belonged to is probably long gone. And we could use the GAC to further our efforts against the Galra Empire-” his tone mimicked Allura’s for a moment, and he nodded to himself. “So, it’s probably fine.” 

“Lance,” Keith said, a little more urgently. His hands were on the open chest lid, and his head was down. Lance hurried and caught up, leaning over Keith’s shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of what was in the chest. 

“Holy-” Lance started. 

“Shit,” Keith breathed. Inside, golden colored gemstones glittered in the dim light. Piled high, almost to the top of the chest, the stones were egg sized and glorious. Lance breathed out in awe. 

“These are incredible,” Lance said, leaning heavier into Keith’s shoulder. “How much GAC do you think they’re worth?” 

Keith shook his head. “No idea. Could be worthless…” 

“Could be priceless,” Lance sang. They stood and marveled for a moment, before Keith slid his hands along the side of the chest. Lance flicked his eyes from the glowing jewels, to Keith’s fingers, oddly large against the wood grain. No, normal sized…

“Wait, is there…?” Lance paused, looking at the regular sized chest. “Shouldn’t it be huge?” 

Keith had realized too, and stepped backwards. “Someone else has been here- woah!” 

In moving backwards, Keith had obviously set off a trap that was not weighted for a giant, but for a perfectly reasonable human sized person. In moments, Keith and Lance were both flung up into the air, a net leaping up and enveloping them. It was sticky, and the corners dragged them up to the ceiling, smashing them against the stone. It had only taken a moment, and in a blink, they were stuck, pressed against each other with the breath knocked out of them. 

Lance coughed, and blinked up at the stone ceiling that was far too close to his nose for comfort. The net holding him up was gross feeling, and sticky, and he could barely squirm around. Anything that was touching the net felt stuck. When he did, he got an elbow in the side.

“Stop wiggling,” Keith growled, muffled and smashed as he was. He and Keith were pressed shoulder to hip, but their legs were tangled, and Lance’s arm was underneath Keith’s shoulders. The rock ceiling continued to be mashed into Lance’s forehead, and he let out a sharp little breath, before he managed to turn his head to the side, the sticky net pulling his bangs, only to find his nose buried into Keith’s hair. 

“Argh, peh!” he said, as he spat out black mullet. “Ugh, what happened?” 

Keith growled, and twisted a little so he could turn his head. Eye to eye, and brushing noses, it was closest to Keith he’d ever gotten. 

“Your booby traps,” he said. “You were right.” 

Lance gave a long groan. “I did not want to be right about this. No, actually, I was wrong because I said that they’d be too big for us, but this is clearly human sized. Not my fault.” 

Keith let out a breath, and it hit Lance’s cheek. 

“No, I stepped on it. Damn treasure chest,” he said. “Shouldn’t have read Treasure Island…” 

Lance let out a chuckle. “I think every kid wanted to be a pirate at some point or another. Though, I watched the animated one set in space, cause space pirates.” 

Keith’s eyes widened a bit. “I’m going to have you tell me about that later. First, how are we going to get out of here?” 

Lance squirmed and wriggled, knocking his knees and forehead against Keith and making him swear, before he settled. 

“The nets pretty strong. What about your knife? Do you have it?” Lance couldn’t remember if he’d been carrying it before. Keith nodded, his bangs sticking to the net even more. 

“I don’t think I can reach it. The net’s too sticky.” Lance noticed that both of Keith’s arms were firmly pinned down, one twisting across his body, and the further one flung up above Keith’s head. 

“My arm is under you. Do you think you can twist a bit, so I can reach it?” 

Keith nodded, and began twisting his hips, so that Lance could reach the small of his back, where the knife was kept. Lance blushed a little as the awkward angle made him get a little closer to Keith’s butt and the skin on his back than he’d meant, trying to get his fingers around the hilt. 

“I swear I’m not groping you on purpose,” Lance muttered, and Keith huffed once. 

“Just hurry up!” Keith growled, the back of his neck going red as well. Lance’s shoulder and sleeve was stuck to the net, but he managed to get the knife out, and flip it around so he was holding it to the net below them. Just then, Keith recoiled, shuddering. 

“Wait, wait! Lance!” his voice sounded panicked, and Lance paused before cutting anything. 

“What is it?!” he demanded, and Keith twisted further, face downwards. 

“We’re way too high. If you cut us down, we’ll fall to our deaths.” 

Lance tried to twist, but he couldn’t, so he just swallowed, frozen and holding Keith’s knife. 

“What do we do then?” 

He felt Keith take a deep breath, and twist back to press against him again. 

“Guess we wait to see if whoever set the trap comes back, or our friends notice we’re gone.” 

Waiting, glued to the ceiling with dim light and no room to breath. Whoo boy, this would be fun. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

“So you don’t like any movies?” Lance said, a varga later… or it felt like that. He and Keith were still stuck with the gooey net to the ceiling of the temple, at least fifty feet in the air. They’d squirmed and groaned and tried to come up with a plan, before giving up for the moment, and just tried to keep themselves from going mad with boredom. 

Keith shrugged, jostling Lance’s shoulder. “I mean, some of the stories aren’t bad. If I can pause in the middle and go do something else, then I can get through it. But usually people are annoyed at that.” 

“Well, some you have to pause in the middle. Ever get through Lord of the Rings?” 

“In pieces.” 

Lance nodded, and then winced as his glued up hair tugged. “Yeah, like me too. That’s totally acceptable. It’s so long!” 

“Tv shows, though…” Keith trailed off, but Lance had his ear pricked. 

“Ooh, you like tv? Like, just to have on, or do you follow shows?” 

Keith seemed sheepish. 

“The pacing is better. You can stop after twenty or forty minutes, and take a break, but still get a long and interesting story.” 

Lance would have put his hands on Keith’s shoulders, if he could. He settled for putting his free wrist on Keith’s side. 

“Keith, you have to be honest with me. Were you a tv series binger?” 

Keith huffed. “Once I left the last foster family, I didn’t have much access to the internet anymore, except sometimes with Shiro. Before that… yeah.” 

“What did you like?” Lance asked, dying to know. 

“Star Trek. Shiro likes that one too, you should ask him. X-Files, Doctor Who… anything with aliens really…” 

“You’re such a nerd,” Lance laughed, and Keith punched Lance’s hip with two knuckles, the only part that he could reach. 

“You just got done telling me the plot of the last four Marvel movies!” 

“That is important cultural knowledge! And hey, Thor is an alien, so you were so there for that.” 

Keith let out a heavy sigh. “Man, when do you think they’ll notice we’ve been gone?” 

Lance tensed and tried to see the outside light from the door they’d come through. All he could see what the dim green glow of the plants. 

“Probably not until dark… or bedtime. I forgot to see how well the planets cycle lined up with the castle’s time. Is it dinner time yet?” 

“Dunno. We didn’t actually have lunch though, so…” As if on cue, both their stomachs gave an audible growl. Lance wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. 

“Argh, this is the worst,” Lance said, and against all odds there was humor in his tone. Keith twisted his head with difficulty, and caught his eye, and then they were both laughing. 

“There’s nothing… _remotely_ … funny about this situation,” Lance giggled, and Keith was huffing, laughing like Lance hadn’t ever heard before. 

“Lance, we’re _glued_ to the _ceiling_.” Keith caught his breath, still shaking a bit with chuckles. “Ah man, what are we gonna do?” 

“Okay, okay,” Lance calmed down too, and let out one last huff, that jostled them both, tangled up as they were. “Ah man, I almost forgot about how my entire leg is asleep.” 

“Mine too,” Keith said. “And my arm.” 

“Oh we’re a couple of idiots, man. Just losers, completely. If the others ever find out about this…” 

“We’re done for.” 

Lance nodded, wanting to keep the joking going, but the humor was trickling out of him. Honestly, they were stuck, and without their jet packs, or lions, or bayards, they were just a couple of kids stuck too high up to get down, like kittens in a tree. What if they never got down? What if they just starved to death up here, and the others never found them. Because, who would think to look on the ceiling? And with their new lions, there was no telling if the bonds would be enough to call for help. They’d be down two paladins. And while they may have been able to replace Lance, seeing as both the lions he’d piloted had another pilot, but Keith… he needed to be with Voltron. He was irreplaceable. And Lance had dragged him out here.

“Keith,” Lance said, and Keith turned his head a bit. 

“Mm?” he asked, calm, but the stress of their situation had to be getting to him. Lance turned his head, pressing his forehead into the ceiling, inches above his face, and closing his eyes. 

“I’m sorry I dragged you out here,” Lance said, voice thinner than he’d like. 

“What?” 

“I- I’m sorry, I got us stuck up here, and … Keith, what if,” 

Keith was tense at his side. “Stop it. We’re not going to die up here, so shut up.” 

“But-” 

“They’re going to notice we’re gone, and they’re going to look for us. And then we’ll yell and scream so they look up, and then they’ll come up with the speeder and get us down, and they can call us idiots for getting stuck.” 

“That’s how it’s gonna happen?” Lance asked, finally looking over, eyebrow pulling up. Keith looked determined, jaw set. 

“Yup.” 

Lance let out a long breath, and then nodded. “Okay. I believe you.” 

“Good,” Keith huffed, and Lance tilted his head towards the other boy. 

“Thanks, Keith,” he said, almost too quiet to hear. Keith huffed again, almost angry sounding, but Lance was close enough to his face that he could see the slight blush. It made a warmth gather in Lance’s chest as well, and he smiled. 

The warmth lasted until there was a scratching sound. Lance and Keith both stiffened, and Lance attempted to crane his glued down hair behind his shoulder, because something… was skittering? 

“What is it?” Keith asked, as he likely couldn’t see past Lance. Lance made a hushing sound, and twitched his fingers at him, trying to peer through the dim light. There! A movement, a quick shadow in the midst of the glowing moss. It was what he’d seen before, and dismissed. 

“There’s something over there,” Lance breathed, staring hard into the darkness. His eyesight was good, but he couldn’t make sense of the shape. Was that just a part of the ceiling, or were those limbs? After a long pause, Keith made a strangled noise of frustration. 

“You gonna elaborate?” 

Lance twitched his hand at Keith, the movement hushing even if the net stopped him from making contact. He was still staring. And yes, a figure was coming closer. It was moving along the ceiling, upside down, like a monkey or a sloth, but quick. As it got closer - and it was definitely coming closer - Lance was able to see that it wasn’t human, or anything like it. In fact, a monkey was an apt comparison. It was also huge, and could probably snap the two of them in half. And here they were sitting like flies in a spiders web. Lance was still holding Keith’s knife (there had been no real way to resheath it, nor to give it to Keith) and he tightened his grip, fear flooding him. Keith was breathing quick, and Lance felt a pinch on the side of his wrist. 

“Lance!” Keith hissed.

“It’s a… it’s an animal, I think. Big, crawling along the ceiling towards us.” Lance swallowed. “Looks like a monkey or something. Do you think it eats humans?” Lance’s voice pitched up, and Keith shoved towards him, trying to see in the small gap between Lance’s body, and the sticky net. 

“Stay calm,” Keith said, voice breathless, as he leaned into Lance’s space, his words warm on his cheek. Lance knew he was just trying to get a better look, but man, he was close. He’d been close this whole time. 

Any further thoughts were banished when the monkey thing reached the edge of their net. Peering down towards his feet, Lance could see that the net was actually more web like, with corner supports that stretched far across the ceiling. It truly did feel like something a spider made, rather than a person. So, maybe this was a literal spider monkey who set traps for their pray, and who was now coming to wrap them up, inject them with poison, and then _drink their blood_. Lance was on his way to hyperventilation at the thought, his chest bouncing quicker with each move the monkey thing made. Keith was no better, and Lance wasn’t sure when he’d done it, but Keith had his hand on Lance’s grip on the knife. 

The monkey plucked the edge of the net. 

And the whole thing collapsed with a lurch. Still wrapped in the sticky net as they were, Lance and Keith clung to each other, screaming as they fell- 

-and abruptly stopped, swinging upside down. Lance felt the blood pound in his head, as he tried to catch his breath. Keith was holding onto him, his face very close. They may have knocked their heads together, but Lance was aware that Keith’s hand was tight around his grasp on the knife, holding it out and away from them both, so he’d had the presence of mind to stop either of them from getting accidentally stabbed. 

Then, they were moving again. 

“Wha- what’s it doing?” Keith gasped, and Lance tried to see past his crossed eyes and ringing ears. They were swinging around, as the monkey thing climbed down one of the support beams along the side of the wall. 

“He’s bringing us down,” Lance said, “Probably so he can _eat us!_ ” 

“Don’t give it any ideas,” Keith said, gripping tighter. The swinging upside down was sickening, but within moments, they were unceremoniously dropped to the ground outside the temple. The light was bright, and blinding as the Earth-like yellow sun slanted through the trees, a bit further than they’d last seen. 

Then, Lance winced as a large, wet, nose sniffed over their sticky hair, and clothes, snuffling and snorting, like a dog trying to find a treat in someone’s pocket. Huge fingers poked at them, and Lance squeaked and closed his eyes, burying his face (what he realized a second later was) Keith’s shoulder. They were going to die. They were going to die all because Lance wanted to go exploring! He braced himself for a stinger, or teeth, but then there was one last snort. And silence. 

Slowly, Lance raised his head, as much as he could still glued to that terrible net - or web, as it probably was. Keith was lying on his back, staring sideways, a solid grip on both Lance’s waist, and the knife in Lance’s grip. Lance looked further, panting, to see the curved back of the monkey leaving the way it came, making it’s way up the walls of the temple. It left them alone. 

“Oh my god,” Lance breathed, shuddering. Keith nodded. 

“You’ve got that right,” he said, his fingers still taught on Lance’s side. Lance snorted a little. 

“Hey, I think I’ll remember this bonding moment,” he said, from within Keith’s arms. “You’re doing a good job at the cradling.” 

Keith froze, and Lance experimentally pulled back to see Keith’s red face. “Sorry,” 

“No worries,” Lance said, trying to sit up, but the webbing was too strong. “Uh, little help?” 

Lance was the one holding the knife, but Keith was holding it steady. Lance didn’t think he could tug it from him if he tried. “Here,” he said, releasing his trembling fingers from the hilt, and giving them a flex. Phew, he was stiff. Keith took the knife, and began cutting them out of the mess, and incidentally, cutting them apart as well. Finally, they stood, sticky and disheveled, covered in webbing and glue. Then, they looked at each other, and Lance couldn’t help but crack a smile. 

“ _You_ look like a wonder,” Lance said, plucking at Keith’s gluey bangs. Keith brushed him away. 

“You’re no better,” he retorted, but he couldn’t hold the glare. “Can you believe we got out of there? How did we get out of there?” 

Lance shrugged, looking nervously where the door to the temple was, and where the monkey had disappeared. “Guess we didn’t smell like a snack!” 

“Yeah,” Keith said, a little breathless still. “Phew.” 

Lance was shaking off the shock, and began trying to clean off some of the crappy glue on his clothes and hair. “Ugh, this stuff is nasty. It better wash out…” he said, brushing a hand down the front of his soft tee shirt, and the only jacket from home he had. 

Keith was trying to scrape it off his face, grimacing as it pulled on his bangs. 

Lance flicked some sticky gunk off his fingertips, and then got an idea. And yup, they both still had their back packs. He grinned. Keith looked at him uneasily. 

“Why are you smiling like that?” 

Lance threw a sticky arm around Keith’s shoulders, grinning wider, even as he felt their jackets glue together again, and the stuff on his face pull as he smiled. 

“We’re gonna get cleaned off, and no one will ever know about the Glue Incident.” 

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Keith said, flatly. “Wait, _how_ are we going to get cleaned off? We’re total messes!” 

Lance lifted one finger, and pointed forward, the direction that they’d been heading while they were hiking, towards Lance’s original goal of coming out here. The lake. 

“It’s still early enough to get a swim in, and if we accidentally get our clothes wet… well, we’ll just have to throw them right into the wash.” 

Keith chuckled, shaking his head. “Lance, you’re ridiculous.” 

“I think you mean ridiculously smart!” Lance declared, pulling them into a walk, arm still around Keith’s shoulders. 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” 

*~*~*~*~*~*

So, they went swimming, as they’d planned in the first place. The glue dissolved well enough in water, and was out of their hair by the time they got done with a race, and a breath holding contest. Their clothes they dunked first thing, and tried to scrub out the stickiness, before laying them out to dry somewhat, and then wearing the color coordinating trunks the castle had had in storage, they played around in the very Earth-like water. 

Lance had the time of his life. 

And later, Keith and Lance snuck back into the castle with bundles of dripping clothes, only wearing their shoes and the trunks, giggling like idiots. Pidge caught them , but only narrowed her eyes at them. 

“I do not want to know,” she declared, and Lance made the mistake of meeting Keith’s eyes, before they broke out into more laughter.


End file.
